


Kaspbrak: For Forever

by IndianaSolo221



Category: IT (1990), IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24884758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndianaSolo221/pseuds/IndianaSolo221
Summary: A short story based in the world of Stephen King's IT.
Kudos: 2





	Kaspbrak: For Forever

Richie was the first Loser to meet Eddie Kaspbrak.

It had all started on the playground. It wasn’t one of those nice, colorful, plastic playgrounds, mind you. It was solid metal, and the heat of a boiling summer would make it sting. The only padding that protected a falling child would be that of the grass, which, most of the time, was enough, if the child wasn’t doing something stupid.

Eddie Kaspbrak was not a risk taker. He didn’t even like the playground. When young Eddie looked at a playground, all he saw was a cesspool of germs. There was always that girl near the slide who would never stop taking her bubblegum out of her mouth, and the bright pink substance would always end up on the runks of the ladder. There was the weirdo hinding in the tunnels who had a strange fasincation with sand. Not only did he practically bathe in it, but he ate it, too, and he was always stuffing it in his pockets so that he could throw it at the other children.

And, of course, on top of all of that, there was the kid who constantly stuck his hands down his own pants. The brown-haired germaphobe just squirmed thinking about those kids. It was just so unsanitary.

If it were up to him, he would be sitting at his desk, listening to Mrs. Shannaday speak. At least then, he wasn’t bombarded by children who were apt to be spreading some type of virus. Besides, he mused, Mrs. Shannaday was the prettiest out of all the Derry school teachers. She might have even been the prettiest woman in Derry---

“Go on, Eddie, and play. It’ll do you good to get some exercise.”

As if she could hear his thoughts, Mrs. Shannaday herself appeared behind him, prodding him gently as she encouraged him to go play.

“I don’t think I can, Mrs. Shannaday---” Eddie spoke shakily. He noticed with some satisfaction that she actually seemed concerned at what he had to say. “It’s just--- well, my mother doesn’t like for me to play around other kids. She says it’s bad for my health,” he piped. He bent down for a moment, pushing down his socks as he scratched his knee, “And, I’m allergic to the grass.”

Mrs. Shannaday smiled. “Oh, come now, sweet Eddie, you must at least try it. How do you know if it’s bad for your health if you don’t try?”

Eddie’s cheeks turned a shade red. He felt guilt rising up in his chest as he listened to Mrs. Shannaday. When had his dear teacher ever lied to him? As far as he understood, never, but it was hard to tell with adults. He sighed, his shoulders sagging. “Okay,” was all he managed to say as he trudged carefully towards the metal deathtrap of a playground.

“Hey, you!” someone yelled as he walked by. He paused, and pointed to himself, mouthing me?

“Yeah you. What’s your name?” the kid with the large, round glasses asked.

“I- I’m Edward...but most people call me Eddie,” he replied sheepishly.

The dark-haired kid extended a hand. “I’m Richie.”

Millions of alarms were going off in Eddie’s head. He didn’t know this kid! What if he was a head-scratcher, or a nose-picker, or a hands-in-the-mouth kinda guy? Even worse...what if he was the strange hands-in-my-pants kid?

Eddie coughed, then started wheezing. The kid, Richie, withdrew his hand. “Woah, is something wrong?”

Eddie pulled his blue inhaler out of his pocket, shook it a few times, and took a big huff of it. He coughed, then, as the worry faded, so did his asthma.  
“It’s okay--- I just-- have asthma,” he explained through breaths.

“I had a cousin who had asthma. My aunt started smoking around her, and they had to take her to the hospital. She could’ve died!”

Eddie nodded. “Smoking’s bad for you. It makes your organs all hard and then your organs stop working and then poof…you’re dead.”

Richie’s eyes were as round as saucers. “Cool.”

Eddie gave an exasparated sigh. “No, not cool. It’s terrifying.”

Richie shrugged. “Anyways, at least you had your inhaler. Say, I don’t think I’ve seen you on the playground before. Where do you usually hang out?”

The sandy-haired boy shrugged. “Over there.” He pointed at the area beside the gymnasium door that was shaded by an overhanging roof.

Richie smiled. “Not a playground kinda guy, huh? Can’t say I blame you. I know a spot we can go to, if you’re interested-- I mean, just so you don’t have to interact with the other kids.”

Eddie nodded. “Okay,” was all he could muster. This was the first time he’d really talked to another classmate.

Richie guided Eddie behind the cover of the big kid slide. “Now, if we’re gonna do this right, we’re gonna have to climb over the fence,” he explained.  
Eddie’s eyes grew large. “Isn’t that against the rules? Besides, if one of us gets scratched, we could get ill.”

Richie shrugged it off. “We’ll be fine.”

He started climbing the fence, and Eddie watched with eyes as big as dinner plates. Once he got over, he urged his sandy-haired friend to join him. Eddie dropped the book he had been holding close to him and latched onto the fence, afraid of falling.

“Hurry up, before she realizes what we’re doing!” Richie whisper-screamed.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Eddie said. Now was the moment of truth. He would have to straddle the fence without falling over on the other side and cracking his skull. He paused, looking down at his short, dark-haired, brown-eyed friend.

“Come on, Eds!”

“Don’t call me that!” Eddie said, finally mustering up the courage to climb down the fence. He stepped off carefully, surprised at being on the other side.  
“C’mon, it’s this way.”

He followed Eddie down a small path outside the playground, and around the side of the gymnasium. “Are you sure about this?”

“I’m positive, now come on,” Richie urged.

He led Eddie to a door that was hanging ajar, latched only by a rusty brown chain. “Come on,” the dark-haired kid said, squeezing through.  
Eddie paused. It looked dark.

He finally decided that he might as well join Richie, as he’d already climbed the fence and didn’t want to go back to the playground on his own. “What--”  
As he squeezed through the door, he immediately noticed that they had come to what appeared to be the storage area of the gymnasium. Inside, there was lots of wood, some old playground equipment, a cornhole set, and a piano.

Richie had climbed up on a structure that at one time must’ve been in the playground, but was probably removed due a few pieces of metal sticking out.  
“Is that safe?”

“Have I hurt myself yet?”

Eddie shook his head. “I guess not.”

“Come on, Eddie spaghetti, have a little fun!”

“I thought you would be nice enough to take me somewhere cleaner, and less dangerous.”

“This is as safe as it gets.”

Eddie sighed, then climbed up to meet Richie. His head spun as he realized how high up he was, and he clung to the bars to avoid falling. Unfortunately, he had planted his feet on one of the more slick rungs, and as his feet slipped, his fingers lost their grip.

He cried out, terrified, seeing nothing but his new friend watching him with a look of shock as he fell.

He landed with a terrible crunch, and immediately started crying. His vision was blurry, but he swore he saw Richie jump from the metal structure before running to his side. “Are you alright!?” he asked. Eddie blacked out before he could respond.

~

His mother was standing over him with tears in her eyes, yowling as he woke up. “If you had been doing your job, this wouldn’t have happened!” she screetched, holding Eddie close to her. He blinked, his eyes focusing on his body. His foot was splayed in an awkward position, and it throbbed and hurt so bad.

“Mother?” he asked.

“Oh, Eddie!” she doted over him immediately. “Hang on, sweetheart, the ambulance will be here soon.”

He blinked again. “Is Richie here?”

“You mean the kid with the glasses? They took him to the principal’s office. Did he make you go with him, Eddie?”

His head spun as he searched for the right words to try and cover up for his friend. “No, it was me. I did it.”

His mother seemed almost angry at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Eddie. You didn’t do that.”

“No, really, it was my idea. I wanted to get away from the other kids.”

Mrs. Kaspbrak didn’t argue anymore. The ambulance had arrived to take him to the hospital. She started to lift her son into the vehicle, but they left, he called out, “Wait, Mrs. Shannaday! If you see Richie, tell him I’m okay. Please, it’s not his fault!”

It was all he could manage before the ambulance took off, but as they drove away, he could see a frazzled Mrs. Shannaday nodding back at him with a knowing look in her eyes.


End file.
